On stage, to give the Sidney Six dancers a chance to shed their feathers and change back into their iconic outfits ready for the grand prize draw, the school choir came on, made up twenty girls from all the different year-groups, wearing nothing but an assortment of Santa or elf hats and novelty earrings, some wears wearing garlands of tinsel around their necks like scarves, and sang a medley of carols and other traditional Christmas songs. Having seen all the entries, the judges passed their score cards to Mr Whittaker who had been head caretaker of both schools for many years, long before the merger, lived in a little cottage adjacent to the shared field and was liked and trusted by staff and pupils alike. It would be his job as independent adjudicator to add up the scores given by individual judges for each act, which they had not even shared amongst themselves, taking the average of the different categories, then see who came out highest over-all, determining the winner.

“Well folks,” Miss Lindsay grinned as the curtains closed on the choir and the polite applause had died down, “it’s that time we’ve all been waiting for! Six lucky winners are going to get the chance to invite their family and friends to an exclusive meal that’s absolutely to die for!” There was some laughter from the audience as everyone got their tickets out. Many of the contestants, all of whom were now standing at the back of the hall, including Paula and Zoe, went to join their parents for this big moment, kneeling on the floor in front of them or sitting on laps since no other seats were available. Zoe sat on her dad’s lap with her arm around his neck and, the two families sat beside each other, Paula did the same. In both cases their mums were charged with holding the tickets and they had five each which they fanned out so that all the numbers would be visible. Unlike the generic cloakroom tickets used for the first raffle, these were custom-printed tickets and the corresponding ones in the draw all had the names and contact telephone numbers of the people who had bought them on the back to avoid any issues or confusion. “Please welcome onto the stage, one of our Guests of Honour for the evening, Mr Hunter Roebuck!”

There was enthusiastic applause as the handsome businessman took to the stage, flashing his charming smile and giving a friendly wave. The applause for him, however, was dwarfed by the enthusiasm expressed for the dancers when they were called back on stage to determine who would get to eat them. They were once again dressed as they had been at the start of the first and second acts in Sidney costumes in pink or white, their delicious young bodies on full display. Hunter gave a short speech thanking them their their performances throughout the evening and for agreeing to be the star prizes of that evening’s raffle. Reading from a piece of paper passed to him from the school secretary via Miss Lindsay, he proudly announced that the raffle had managed to raise seven thousand, six hundred and fifteen pounds for the school which, when added to the sales of the other raffle tickets, refreshments and the tickets themselves meant that the evening had raised a whopping thirteen thousand, two hundred and eighty five pounds, a figure which Hunter promised to match from his own pocket. By every possible metric, the evening was an outstanding success! The raffle machine was wheeled out onto the stage again and Shelly, as the youngest, stepped forward to draw the first ticket.

“Okay!” the cute blonde grinned, sticking the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she rummaged in the barrel, Hunter holding the microphone close to her mouth to make sure everyone would be able to hear. “Let’s see who’s gonna get to enjoy me!” She pulled out a ticket and unfolded it, reading the number first then flipping it over to announce the name. “Ticket number four one two.” she announced. “Moira Tarbuck! Where’s Moira?” She put her hand up to shield her eyes from the bright stage lights and looked out over the audience. A joyful whoop told her where to look and she turned to see a pleasant, very mumsy-looking lady getting up out of her seat. She was sat with her husband, a boy of about Shelly’s own age and two younger girls who probably went to the Junior school.

“Can we have the house lights up?” Hunter suggested. “Come on up here, Moira!” The lights in the hall came on and the stage lights dimmed to a general ambience, making it much easier for those on stage to see the audience. The happy woman excitedly made her was up onto the stage and hugged her prize, giving her a kiss on the cheek, then moved to the back of the stage area, her back against the heavy velvet curtains, with her out of the way to watch as the other winners were picked, standing with her hands on Shelly’s shoulders. “Morgan, you’re up next!” Hunter invited the sweet brunette forward to pick her own winner. Andi was next, then Beth.

“Oh my goodness!” Paula’s mum exclaimed, looking at the tickets in her hand and recognising that one of them matched the number that the cute ginger-haired thirteen year old on stage had just read out, confirmed a second later when Beth read out her name. “Here!” she exclaimed, standing up and waving her ticket. “Over here! It’s us!”

“Then come on up!” Hunter chuckled.

“Go on!” her husband urged as she glanced at him, wondering for a moment if she should send him up instead since technically it had been he who had paid for the tickets. “I’m rather stuck here anyway!” he chuckled, bouncing Paula on his lap a little to point out that she was pinning him into his chair.

“Go on, Mum!” Paula giggled. “Go claim our prize!” Just as the other winners had done, Paula’s mum kissed the dancer then moved to stand with her at the back of the stage.

Next up was Helen, the curvaceous, dark-skinned beauty, older sister if Andi and girlfriend of Sarah who was the last to draw her ticket. The tall, athletic fourteen year old blonde, her shapely breasts a very good size for her age and her rump practically screaming to be roasted and carved, was unofficially considered considered the star prize, her girlfriend a very close second of course. Very few people in the audience or on stage to keep from salivating and more than a few felt their stomachs rumbling as she stepped forward and, grinning broadly out at the audience, reached into the barrel.

“Ticket two one one three.” She read out proudly. “Poppy Carter.”

“That’s me! That’s me!” a sweet, plump, dark-haired little girl of six or seven, wearing a Christmas sweater and a halo-like tinsel crown sat in the front row leapt to her feet. She was sat between her grandparents who smiled indulgently, her grandfather ruffling her hair and her grandmother playfully patting her backside and they encouraged her to go up onto the stage.

“Well hello!” Sarah knelt down to hug the overjoyed winner. “I hope I’ll be delicious for you!” She stood and took the beaming younger girl’s hand and moved to the rather crowded space against the curtains.

“Let’s have all the prizes and their winners back out here!” Hunter suggested, beckoning the girls and audience members forward as the raffle-drawing raffle apparatus was wheeled off stage. They posed together in a line, first with the winners in between each dancer, then standing behind their prizes, all except for Poppy who Sarah picked up and held on her hip while various photographs were taken. “Okay so now the other moment you’ve been waiting for!” Hunter grinned. “It’s time to announce the winner and I think it’s only right that Josie be the one to announce it. Get on up here, Josie!” he gestured for the manager of the soon-to-be-opened Sidney’s branch to join him on stage then passed her the microphone, joining in the polite applause as he and everyone else on stage stepped back and moved to the sides, leaving a space in the middle of the stage.

To be continued...